I cannot emphasize how much I hate research that uses technology to force autistic people to mask. I`m honestly surprised this article wasn`t from The Onion. A thread about this: 1/15
I don`t look at people`s eyes in interviews. It shouldn`t matter.
This is also too many levels of abstraction. Maybe the teacher should just butt out.
This is already disturbing, controlling.
Wait...they have watches that do that? Immigration attorneys need that for our clients who come from cultures that dont maintain eye contact. Its used against them by judges and officers. We practice eye contact but hard to break a lifetime of habits in 2 or 3 prep sessions
Even that *picture* gets an immediate negative reaction from me.
I can also imagine the other kids being mean to the autistic kid for having a watch that tells them to make eye contact. When I was at school, I had reactolite (progressive) glasses & would regularly get asked, why are you wearing sunglasses in winter? (said in a hostile tone)
A better tool for independence = being left alone!
FFS. They are taking a framework with real benefit (the fact my watch reminds me to add to my hydration log means I actually drink; movement alerts remind me to take a break from hyperfocus and pee) and turning it into a conformity tool.
Again you`re trying to predict the future, and invalidate it entirely based on this predictions, and also predict what nom autistic people will think. If we had to not have things because of what ABA schools would do with it wed not have anything.
How do you know they didnt? Again they say they`re working on watches to track meltdowns, that personally would help my wellbeing. Many autistic people would want prompts. Does supporting their wellbeing not count? Every autistic is different, theres no on size fits all.
The watch is in its infancy and isnt even full researched yet, it`s still very much a concept. It could also be a very poorly written article. We can`t know a lot about the items or their process from this. Again, it does talk about tracking meltdowns, which does help us.
I literally got my autism diagnosis after failing interview after interview where I wasn`t signaling attention and competence to the HR reps who were looking for eye contact a cue. Got 3 job offers after I read and stopped trying to do job interviews.
Wait... just go up to a random classmate and ask them how they`re doing? Really? And they won`t look at you like you have two heads and they won`t think you`re a creep? Right............... (Unless I`m really wrong about how making friends is supposed to work).
Wouldn`t the sensation of having something bulky attached to their wrist + buzzing for messages be a problem in itself for autistics with hight sensitivity?
It`s litteraly what I programmed my watch for and only that. (And they`re also the physical exercice part I never use, but stimming and reading continue like that! just feel good.)
A smart watch that reminds me to do things like fill up my water bottle and take drinks from it throughout the day would be amazing.
Please make this watch. I will buy and gift it in bulk.
Possibly some do, although it shouldnt be forced if they dont. Im trying to teach myself to ask people how their day was. I care about how they are and want to know the answer but struggle to remember to ask, so personally I would find something like this helpful.
Oh this could be helpful if it was used to help people remember things or give extra explicit instructions for a task. But forcing autistic people to interact when school is already a massively stressful environment? These people have no clue. SMH.
I disagree with part because the solution is to prevent stigma rather than hide the differences
Also what a MASSIVE distraction to have a sensory intervention like a buzzing watch against your skin whilst trying hard to focus on the interview process and using possibly all of your executive functioning capacity....
Being prompted to verbalise exactly what the teacher thinks you should say when they think you should say it totally screams independence to me! /s
This. This is extremely important. Real things that are helpful, not things that make neurotypic people feel better because conformity...
Apart from the severe micromanaging this opens us up to, seems like this watch`d be setting us up to fail. A person already with different way of relating with environment, moving, mannerisms etc. looking at watch for prompts during a job interview? That`s going to work well /s
I`d appreciate a system where the student could have a prearranged agreement on what they want help with, like if the watch could tell them that someone is TALKING to them if they don`t notice. (Meeee, please.) But making folks socialize on command frustrates me.
And exactly what benefit to the autistic student?
Ugh. Wouldn`t the autism sitting by the students be a giveaway as much as the aides "hovering over them"? If autistic students feel like this could help them, sure - make it available, even programmable with reminders, but not factory pre-set. (Not yet read the article/thread)
*buzz buzz* Mrs. Smith: ask your classmate how she`s doing today *click type type type click* Me: No, thanks. Please delete my number from your contacts.
Ralph Schlosser, same guy who was heavily involved in ASHA`s blanket outlawing of FC, RPM (AAC methods that address apraxia) contributing to mistreatment of high, low and in-between support needs autistics; speaking, semi-speaking and non-speaking. Thanks Ralf. /s
Make eye contact. Talk to others. Not on my list of ways to improve my life. Their smart watches sound like A.B.A. workers insisting that we act in ways indistinguishable from "our peers." Behave! Not my peers. Not my goals. I like your ideas for a watch very much better.
I don`t even have emotion left to have feels about this one.
I`ve politely asked you stop tagging me as the notifications are keeping me awake. I`ll be back in the morning but you`re kind of bombarding and overwhelming me. Please give me chance to sleep and then respond. Please. good night, I wish you well.
@KittyCadabra And let me be clear here: The real problem is neurotypical lack of understanding and misinterpretation of autistic people. The real problem is the lack of focus on autistic people`s priorities in research. The real problem is the immovability of neurotypical norms & structures
I do think it mentioned about future models helping predict and prevent meltdowns, although badly worded I`d agree. Many would benefit from that feature tbh. Its 5am I`d appreciate no further tags as I do need to go bed now. Thanks. I will come back to this after sleep.
@KittyCadabra They didn`t do some survey and figure out what priorities autistic people want. They just used technology as a band-aid instead of as a solution to the real problem - supporting autistic people and their well-being. Using compliance with this tech is just as bad as without tech.
@KittyCadabra And regardless of the pain that might be inflicted from this, from autistic masking, the worst part to me is to see technology like this wasted on masking instead of emotional well-being and sensory needs. Nothing about that article is centered on what autistic people want.
@KittyCadabra Too much technology makes us mask. I don`t care if in 30% of the cases, it would help an autistic kid. If it hurts 1 autistic person, that`s a problem that needs to be solved. We`ve seen time & time again how "professionals" treat us. They don`t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Again I think you`re trying to predict a future that may never happen here. Wanting to socialise easier isn`t simply "masking". some autistic people want that. I was an autistic student once too, you know. I`m Also raising one. I`ve seen big changes in the school system tbh.
@KittyCadabra *unintentional harm
@KittyCadabra Better to safeguard for that now than wait until neurotypicals hail it as the next best thing for autistic kids. Also, this: Getting instructions from a watch isn`t that different in regard to autonomy? I imagine the individual was free to take it off, asin it wasn`t permanently attached, like a smart watch would usually. I`m sure they mentioned watches and sensory issues in there?
Autistic people : Eye contact is extremely painful for me and feels too intimate. Allistic people: We made it up as a social rule in the United States so we`re just going to pretend that it`s something that makes people human.
We need to start mass protesting these inventions at a certain point. It should be a violation of human rights to force us to mask when it diminishes our quality of life and makes us suicidal.
The minimal diversity of experiences neurotypicals draw on really makes them worse at thinking up user-friendly tech, doesn`t it?
This is getting more and more ridiculous. I`m actually really mad about these kinds of things.
Why do they keep coming up with so many godawful ideas? We already speak to our classmates when we want to. They also shouldn`t expect us to try and be friends with everyone on the campus.
I`d rather keep my Pebble 2, thanks! Can all the money being spent on making autistics miserable with smartwatches be spent on making a Pebble 3 (the company was bought by fitbit and they don`t make anymore)? That would make at least one autistic very happy.
I watched a customer service video recently (for NTs) that said "only make eye contact long enough to determine someone`s eye color. Longer than that can make people uncomfortable"!! Perfect advice! Customer service techniques are so much better than "autism specialists`."
Brilliant! I love all these ideas.
When I was in middle school my parents didnt even know I was autistic, just thought I was "too shy" and they CONSTANTLY fussed at me to talk to strangers and blamed me for not trying hard enough to make friends. I can`t imagine being forced to wear a watch that does that all day
They don`t wanna help us, the wanna "fix" us (aka get rid of us while they pretend to help us)
Id break the watch
@AtCriticalMax It`s just another way to enforce compliance into autistic children.
I`m just imagining all the small ways even that this could actually help an autistic person. Reminding them to eat, take meds, take sensory breaks etc. And they just want to use it to discreetly bully us
An app that could help you generate a schedule that makes sense for your needs. But that would be some AI. and then somehow keeps you on the schedule while reminding you about breaks.
Id love a watch that vibrated to suggest I go to bed. I dont want to set a loud and jangly alarm for this, it seems counterproductive.
Yeah, this is where they lose me. If you`re going to condition children`s behavior through technology (weird), why not message neurotypical kids and encourage them to be friendly?
To me this is horrifying, finally get settled and focused doing the task, brain map open with all the thought and then this message comes through to tell me what? Brain crash, start over. This whole article is sickening. Surprised the watch doesnt provide a shock for stimming.
A watch that automatically orders your regularly-purchased groceries when you`re running low.
I don`t mind this. It might have been helpful to me without feeling odd or seeming like a teachers pet.
A watch that provides a TTY service for emergencies so that you can talk to people who are on the phone without actually talking. I could keep going, but you see my point. There are SO many more important things than "Ask your classmate how she`s doing." Life-saving things. 5/
If a fire alarm goes off, the watch recognizes the sound and sends a text to a person you know so they can check on you and make sure you are okay/able to get out of the building if you`re frozen in place without ear protection. 4/
Explains to neurotypical people that you can`t talk when you`re having a shutdown, and what to do. If an NT asks you a question, the watch uses text-to-speech and reads it out to them. The text is customizable to the autistic person. 3/
Tells you if an environment is too loud for you and reminds you to wear ear protection. Tells you if an environment is too bright for you and reminds you to wear sunglasses. Provides an easy, organized way to look at your finances. 2/
And I`ll go ahead and start a thread of things that WOULD potentially be useful to autistic people: A watch that: Reminds you if you haven`t eaten in 4 hours. Reminds you to drink water. Helps organize your schedule for you. Provide you with a way to show you your tasks 1/
I want a neurotypical smart watch that tells you when you`re making too much eye contact, asking too many questions at once, talking too loudly, making too much small talk, being too indirect. "But that would be ridiculous!" you might think. Yes & that`s exactly my point. 15/15
This is all about what autistic people could be "doing better," and not about how neurotypical people can support them as autistic people. This research is not for autistic people. It`s for everyone else around them. 14/15
In conclusion, researchers are using this technology to: 1. Remind autistic people to talk to others at school 2. Remind autistic people to ask how someone is 3. Remind autistic people to maintain eye contact. Do you see the issue here? 13/15
The only possible silver lining to this research is that they want to, in the future, build a watch with sensors that may help indicate when an autistic person is having a meltdown (they use the term "violent outburst"). Even then that tool can be used against autistics. 12/15
Why not include a decible meter that shows an NT how loud a room is so they can accommodate someone with hyperacusis? There are SO many things technology can help with, and it almost always used in autism research for reinforcing neurotypical norms and autistic masking. 11/15
Why not spend their funding implementing training for employers on how to interview autistic candidates? Why not spend funding on providing sensory supports and proper sensory rooms in schools? Or help train teachers that masking is unhealthy! 10/15
Requiring autistic people to make eye contact in an interview in the first place is ridiculous! It helps no one. It makes it harder to think. But even then, their actual solution to this, isn`t even a solution! It doesn`t help the autistic person "maintain eye contact"! 9/15
Imagine an autistic person in formal attire, in a new environment, meeting new people, with a watch buzzing on your wrist saying "maintain eye contact." Don`t you think interviewers would take points off for the candidate looking at their watch while talking to them?! 8/15
Schlosser gives another example of how the watch could be used in the future - "during a job interview, if an [autistic person] has trouble maintaining eye contact..a reminder could inconspicuously be sent to the watch to keep that person on track." Imagine this scenario. 7/15
The teacher had to tell the student "No, what I meant was, ask your classmate how she`s doing today, not to say the whole phrase." Again this is masking! Why should autistic people be required to say "how are you doing today?" Whose goals are these? They don`t say. 6/15
This is the worst part. It doesn`t even work! "To test whether the smartwatch commands would work, a teacher sent a text message to her autistic student saying, Ask your classmate how shes doing today." The student repeated the entire phrase to the classmate! 5/15
"...during lunchtime, teachers can prompt students with autism to make conversation with their classmatesa cue that might not occur naturally to them." Do autistic people really need a reminder to talk to people? Do they want to? Or do teachers simply want them to mask? 4/15
"For students who need extra guidance, a text message can be sent to the watch to give them special directions. When directions come in from the teacher, the watch vibrates, alerting the student to the task at hand while remaining discreet." Again seems fine if it`s helpful 3/15
Schlosser, a research in the article says - "Often these kids have special technology that makes them stand out. But if they can use something that other kids have, like an Apple Watch, its less stigmatizing. Sure that seems fine, why not. 2/15
